The Future of the World Trading System: An Asian Perspective

Organiser

Session Objectives

• The state of global trade governance centred on the WTO and proposals for reform;
• Implications of proliferating FTAs and mega regionals on global trade governance and how to achieve greater coherence between global and regional trade rules; and
• The role of Asia in the future of global trade governance.

Synopsis

The world trading system has changed fundamentally over the past years with the expansion of production networks and supply chain trade, signs of new commercial and industrial policies, and the spread of FTA-led regionalism. These developments are here to stay, but the WTO has not kept up with them. WTO centricity in global trade governance is eroding and is at risk of continuing to erode. The rise of Factory Asia through supply chain trade has placed it increasingly at the heart of the global economy. The region is also experimenting with mega-regionals (such as, Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), Regional Comprehensive economic partnership (RCEP), and Japan- EU FTA) and economic policies to sustain economic growth amidst a fragile world economy.
Asia’s experience of open trade-led development offers many valuable lessons for other regions. These include the importance of pursing market-friendly trade and industrial policies to develop supply chain trade, improving surveillance of non-tariff measures, and consolidating FTAs into a large region-wide FTA.
In the longer term, better coherence is vital between Asia’s regional trade rules and global trade governance. Improving the quality of mega-regional FTAs, a WTO agenda on supply chains and FTAs, and significant reforms of the WTO are necessary.
The session will be organised as a panel discussion and will address pertinent issues, such as:
• the state of global trade governance centered on the WTO and proposals for reform;
• implications of proliferating FTAs and mega regionals on global trade governance;
• how to achieve greater coherence between global and regional trade rules;
• role of Asia in the future of global trade governance;
• the links between global production networks and supply chains, national commercial and industrial policies, and the governance of global and regional trade; and
• how to address the blurring between trade policy and other policies, such as climate change and exchange rate policies.

Ganeshan Wignaraja is Director of Research at the Asian Development Bank Institute. Previously, he was principal economist at the Asian Development Bank, chief programme officer at the Commonwealth Secretariat, a manager in a UK economics consulting firm and has held research positions at Oxford University, the OECD and the United Nations Institute for New Technologies. Dr. Wignaraja has published 12 books on trade and competitiveness, regional economic integration, industrial technology, and development strategy. He is an executive editor of the Journal of Asian Economics. He has a D.Phil in Economics from Oxford University and a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Currently the Director General of the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), Dr. Biswajit Dhar has been intimately involved in the policy-making process for more than a decade and a half. He has been a member of the official Indian delegations to WTO Ministerial Conferences, and the Ministry of Environment and Forests has nominated him as an expert in negotiations conducted under the aegis of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Dr. Dhar has also served on expert panels set up by the Ministry of Statistics, Department of Chemicals and Fertilizers, and Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Djisman Simandjuntak is Professor of Business Economics at Prasetiya Mulya Business School in Jakarta. He is currently also the chairman of the Executive Board of Prasetiya Mulya Foundation, Jakarta, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Foundation, Jakarta.
His other activities include being a member of the National Economic Council (Komite Ekonomi Nasional/KEN) of Indonesia since 2010, the Chairman of the Indonesian National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation (INCPEC), since 2012, and the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Regional Autonomy Watch, since 2009. As member of the Expert Advisors Team for the National Team for International Trade Forum in the Indonesian Ministry of Trade, Prof. Dr. Djisman currently serves as expert advisor in the Negotiating Team for Indonesia-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
Prof.Dr. Djisman Simandjuntak obtained his Ph.D. degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Cologne, Germany, in 1983 (majoring in International Economics).

Dr. Song Hong holds many positions, including, Assistant director, and Senior Fellow of Institute of World Economics and Politics (IWEP), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Professor of Graduate School of CASS, Director of Department of International Trade Research. He obtained his Bachelors degree in philosophy from the Department of Philosophy at Northwest University in 1987, and a Masters degree in economics at Fudan University in 1994 and a Ph.D. in economics in 1997 from Nankai University. He was chosen as the national-level expert of China in the New Century by the Ministry of Personnel in 2009. Professor Song is an Economist, his study focuses on trade and investment issues. One of his special concern is the impacts of multinational enterprises on industrial development in developing countries, especially in China.

Masahiro Kawai is Dean and CEO of the Asian Development Bank Institute. He was previously special advisor to the ADB president in charge of regional economic cooperation and integration. Before that he was in academia, first as an associate professor of economics at The Johns Hopkins University and later as a professor of economics at the University of Tokyo. He also served as chief economist for the World Bank’s East Asia and the Pacific Region and as deputy vice minister for international affairs of Japan’s Ministry of Finance. His recent publications focus on economic regionalism. He holds a BA in economics from the University of Tokyo and a PhD in economics from Stanford University.